The Palestinian Authority is quickly sinking into quicksand of its own making - and has no one but itself to blame for its fall from grace as a partner with Israel to resolve the allocation of sovereignty between Jews and Arabs in the West Bank.
The announcement that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas does not intend to run as President when elections are supposedly held next January is shrouded in uncertainty.
Yasser Abed-Rabbo, the Secretary General of the PLO’s Executive Committee denied that Abbas had threatened to quit during a telephone call with President Obama on 3 November.
Abed-Rabbo is reported to have told Maan News Agency that he:
“witnessed the phone call between President Abbas and President Obama and the talks did not have anything to do to with Abbas resigning.”
The
following report however rebuts Abed-Rabbo’s claim maintaining that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Ms Clinton has accepted Abbas’s resignation stating:
“that she [Ms Clinton] is expecting to work with him in "any new capacity." She also mentioned that he was respected by the US for his leadership skills. Abbas "described in great detail the challenges" he faced and the pair "talked about his own political future," said Clinton when enquired about the decision taken by Abbas that he would not call in for re-election. "He reiterated his personal commitment to do whatever he can to achieve a two- state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," Clinton said. "I look forward to working with President Abbas in any new capacity in order to help achieve this goal," the chief US diplomat said.
Whether elections are held in January or not remains a moot question since Hamas has made it clear that it is totally opposed to such a proposal.
Abbas may seek to stay on claiming that he has no alternative if such elections are postponed.
However his star is clearly waning.
Dweik - Call for Abbas resignation
Palestinian Legislative Council speaker Aziz Dweik called for Abbas’s resignation on 6 October telling
Maan News:“It's time that Abbas clears his seat and leaves the leadership of the Palestinian people for others,"
A
petition circulated on the internet has also called for Abbas’ resignation on the following grounds:
- The embarrassing deferment of the Goldstone Report at the UNHRC meeting in Geneva
- Lending support to the blockade of Gaza
- Lending support to the war on Gaza
- The systematic abuse of human rights by Palestinian security forces
- The suppression of free speech, including freedom of the press, and a failure to respect the principles of democracy as exercised by the Palestinian people
- The failure, 16 years after Oslo, to achieve any tangible gains for the Palestinian people
Whilst Abbas quickly reversed his decision on the Goldstone Report this has not stifled calls for his resignation because of the other failings listed in the petition.
The Palestinian Authority’s steadfast refusal to reopen negotiations with Israel until it ceases all building activity in the West Bank has also resulted in its fortunes taking a nose dive - particularly with a clearly frustrated President Obama.
Now the Palestinian Authority’s chief negotiator - Saeb Erekat - announced on 4 November that the Palestinians may have to abandon the goal of an independent state if Israel continues to expand Jewish settlements and the United States does not stop it.
Erekat - Two state option finished
Erekat told Reuters News that it may be time for Abbas to :
“tell his people the truth, that with the continuation of settlement activities, the two-state solution is no longer an option"
Erekat continued that the alternative left for Palestinians is to:
"refocus their attention on the one-state solution where Muslims, Christians and Jews can live as equals. It is very serious. This is the moment of truth for us."
Erekat is sorely mistaken if he thinks Israel is going to commit political and national suicide. In giving voice to a call for the destruction of Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people - he is confirming what the PLO and Hamas Covenants have both stated from their inception and which have continued unchanged or revoked. They have always been the stumbling blocks to any peaceful resolution of sovereignty in the West Bank and Gaza.
If Erekat thinks the West are going to go down on bended knees to get Abbas and Erekat to retract their threats then they will both be sorely disappointed.
Billions of dollars have already been poured into the Palestinian Authority by the West without any discernible political or economic results. That they expect this gravy train will continue in the face of continuing Palestinian Authority intransigence is surely testing the will of the West to continue investing its money into a bottomless pit attempting to resolve a conflict that the Arabs themselves should have resolved in the 19 years they totally occupied the West bank and Gaza when not one Jew lived there.
The Palestinian Authority has already squandered two wonderful opportunities to resolve the conflict in the West Bank with its rejection of proposals made by Ehud Barak in 2000 and Ehud Olmert in 2008.
Like in an Arab bazaar, the Palestinian Authority has refused to lower its price and can now see the buyer walking away to look for another address to talk to about the West Bank and its future sovereignty.
Allocation of sovereignty of the West Bank between Israel and Jordan - the two successor States to the Mandate for Palestine - has always been and still remains the only viable option to resolving the current conflict between Arabs and Jews in the West Bank.
Jordan is the only address left in the Arab world that can give the Arab residents of the West Bank the dignity they demand and the security Israel desires without one Jew or one Arab having to leave his present home in the West Bank.
The sooner Israel and Jordan enter into negotiations the better.
